A brief story of the history of the piano

The guqin is the earliest string instrument of the Chinese nation and a treasure of Chinese traditional culture. It is cherished by the world for its long history, vast literature, rich connotation and profound influence. The physical objects unearthed from the tomb of Zenghou Yi in Hubei are more than 2,400 years old. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, there are more than 100 kinds of guqin scores from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Qing dynasties, and there are 3,000 pieces of guqin music. There are also a large number of documents about guqinists, guqin theory, guqin making, and guitar. Their richness is the most abundant Chinese musical instruments. In ancient times, guqins, chess, calligraphy, and paintings were also known as the traditional culture of the Chinese nation. Many famous performers have emerged throughout the ages, and they are historical and cultural celebrities, passed down from generation to generation. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Guqin was also introduced to various countries in East Asia and was absorbed and inherited by the traditional culture of these countries. In modern times, with the footprints of Chinese people, it has spread all over the world, becoming a symbol of Eastern culture in the minds of Westerners.

The records of the guqin were first seen in the Book of Songs and Book of Documents. The guqin recorded: "Shun played the guqin with five strings and sang the poems of the southern country, and the world was dominated." It can be seen that the guqin was originally five strings, and there were already seven strings in the Zhou Dynasty. "Fengshu Tong" of Ying Shao of the Eastern Han Dynasty: "Seven strings are the seven stars, the big strings are the king, the small strings are the minister, the Wen King, and the Wu King plus the two strings to match the grace of the king and the ministers." During the Three Kingdoms period, the seven strings and the thirteen emblems of the guqin had basically stabilized and have been passed down to this day.

The main forms of playing guqin are qin songs and solo music. According to literature records, in the pre-Qin period, in addition to being used in suburban temple sacrifices, court meetings, ceremonies, etc., it was mainly popular among the sects and above, and became popular among the folks after the Qin Dynasty. Regarding the form of vocal accompaniment of qin music, as early as the "Shangshu", there were records of "Pengpiano and Piano" in "Shangshu". In the Zhou Dynasty, qin zip accompaniment was often sung, called "string songs", which are the so-called qin songs since the Tang and Song Dynasties. From the "Qin Cao" written by Cai Yong of the Han Dynasty, there were five poems, namely the string songs of Zhou, and the "Twelve Caos", "Nine Quotations" and "Hejian Miscellaneous Songs" were all sung by the qin.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the solo music of the guqin had a certain artistic expression ability, such as the legend of Boya playing the qinzi. At that time, famous guqin masters were Shi Juan from Wei, Shi Kuang from Jin, Shi Wen from Zheng, Shi Nang from Lu, etc.; famous guqin music such as "High Mountains", "Flowing Water", "Phizar Flying Towards", "Yang Spring", "White Snow", etc., all of which have been recorded in history.

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Chapter completed!